This celebrity is overly enthusiastic!

Chapter 201 Chen Yuan is so amazing, why don't you go and live with him!

After deliberately keeping a low profile, Chen Yuan quickly disappeared from the public eye. Now it is the end of 2004, and the annual Lunar New Year film season is coming again.

Public attention to movies has been gradually increasing over the years, especially with the sudden emergence of "The Edge Walker" this year, which is regarded as a landmark event in the rise of Chinese commercial films.
This is why Zhang Yimou's "House of Flying Daggers" was so heavily criticized.

This year's Lunar New Year film season will see the release of "The Promise," a labor of love from director Chen Kaige, who is on par with Zhang Yimou. The film, which took three years to complete and features a cast of big-name actors from China, Japan, and South Korea, has attracted considerable attention from audiences.

It couldn't be anything but captivating; the marketing for "The Promise" was extremely extravagant, with a scale even larger than that of "Hero" when it was released in 02.

The campaign was carried out through a comprehensive and thorough publicity effort, utilizing CCTV, local satellite TV channels, outdoor advertising, and the internet.

They used almost every marketing tactic at their disposal, including strict secrecy surrounding the plot, special effects trailers, celebrity gossip, and leveraging the director's brand.

Everyone can see that Chen Kaige has great ambitions; he's clearly aiming to challenge Zhang Yimou's "Hero".

Of course, the only film that can be compared to it is "Hero," firstly because both films are period martial arts films.

Secondly, Chen Yuan's "The Edge Walker" is not suitable for comparison with the works of traditional directors, whether in terms of subject matter, cost, or distribution scope.

On December 15, "The Promise" was officially released, and its box office exceeded 82 million yuan in the first three days, directly surpassing "Hero" and even "The Edge Walker"!

"Alas, it's a pity that Xiao Chen was suddenly targeted by a villain and was inexplicably smeared. Now he has to lay low. Otherwise, we could have asked him to come and help out."

Having just finished a roadshow and listened to a string of flattering words, Chen Kai, beaming with pride, sat in his van and remarked to his wife.

"Yes, he's really unlucky. He just went to see a doctor and suffered such severe cyberbullying."

Seeing that Old Chen was in a good mood, Chen Hong was happy to cooperate with him.

Old Chen had high hopes for Chen Yuan and was willing to help him within his capabilities. They had a very good relationship, and Old Chen often talked to this younger brother who was praised by others.

However, after Chen Yuan overwhelmed all his predecessors with an unreasonable speed and strength, Old Chen rarely mentioned Chen Yuan anymore.

Chen Hong found Old Chen's petty and stubborn mentality quite amusing. He was old enough to be Chen Yuan's father, yet he still had the mind to compare himself to others.

Before its release, he said in the promotional materials that no one would understand "The Promise" within ten years. He was polishing "The Promise" as an art film, aiming for both the depth and critical acclaim of an art film, and also hoping for commercial success.
How could something like this possibly happen smoothly?

Recently, almost all the news attention was drawn away by the rumors about Chen Yuan and Fan Binbin, which greatly diminished the effectiveness of the publicity campaign that had been laid out for "The Promise".

Old Chen was quite upset about this for a while, but fortunately Chen Yuan didn't cause any more trouble, and "The Promise" once again became the focus of media attention.

Now that the film has achieved a successful start, Old Chen's spirits have been lifted again.

Does he really think that "The Promise" can compare to "The Edge Walker"?
What kind of release date was "The Edge Walker" released during? And during its run, the film received very high praise from both critics and audiences.

The reason why "The Promise" is doing so well at the box office is largely due to the effective marketing campaign that cost a lot of money beforehand, but its reputation has become polarized.

Sigh, I really hope he can stay this optimistic.

Chen Hong's fears came true. After its opening weekend, the box office of "The Promise" plummeted, with daily box office revenue dropping below 10 million yuan.

The production team could only work harder on promotional tours, appearing on various programs and giving interviews.

After the release of Stephen Chow's blockbuster "Kung Fu Hustle," distributed by Metaverse, the box office of "The Promise" was further squeezed.

The film "The Promise," which was previously highly anticipated, has seen its box office performance decline, let alone surpass "Hero," and even breaking the 2 million mark has gradually become a distant dream.

At a movie ticket window in Shanghai, a young man named Hu Ge, whose profession is audio editor, lingered for a long time.

He was hesitating whether he should watch "The Promise" or "Kung Fu Hustle".

"Kung Fu Hustle" stars comedy master Stephen Chow, so the plot is definitely guaranteed. The promotional trailer for "The Promise" also looks quite appealing with its Eastern fantasy special effects.
A movie ticket costs 80 yuan, which is really not cheap. He doesn't have much money to live on, so he can only afford to see a movie. It's a real dilemma for him.

In the end, Hu Ge chose to trust the Palme d'Or-winning director Chen Kaige and bought a ticket for the movie "The Promise".

After 116 minutes of agonizing waiting, Hu Ge walked out of the movie theater in a daze and returned to her rented room, pondering a question:
What exactly did I watch?
My roommate went to see a movie with his girlfriend today, and when he came back, he raved to Hu Ge about how wonderful and entertaining "Kung Fu Hustle" was.

Hu Ge was even more frustrated. She turned on her computer and searched online for reviews of the two movies. "Kung Fu Hustle" had very good audience reviews, while many people said they didn't understand "The Promise" and felt the plot was nonsensical.

The more Hu Ge looked at the screen, the higher his blood pressure rose. He felt that his trust had been ruthlessly trampled on, and he had to do something to vent the anger that was building up inside him!

Ten days later, a masterpiece titled "A Bloodbath Caused by a Steamed Bun" was officially released!

Perhaps even its creator, Hu Ge, himself was unaware of the enormous impact this project, undertaken to vent his frustrations, would have.

"A Bloodbath Caused by a Steamed Bun" reconstructs the plot of "The Promise" into "Legal Online," satirizing and deconstructing the narrative logic and artistic value of "The Promise."

Young people these days have never seen anything this awesome before. After watching it, they all exclaimed how amazing it was and then recommended it to their friends.

"Steamed Bun" initially circulated only in QQ groups and forums, but it already demonstrated remarkable qualities and spread extremely quickly.

It wasn't until someone uploaded it to LeTV's website that things spiraled out of control.

As the word-of-mouth surrounding "Mantou" continues to spread, the pressure on LeTV's servers, which had only been online for less than two months, has increased dramatically.

More and more people clicked to watch and download the video until the media noticed it and reported on it.

Within just one week, "Mantou" has become a hot topic among netizens, and its popularity and influence have even surpassed that of "The Promise".

Like its box office performance, "The Promise" couldn't sustain its critical reception and collapsed completely.

The media also began to fiercely criticize Chen Kaige's "The Promise," accusing the film of having a chaotic narrative and outrageous dialogue.
They criticized Chen Kai for excessively pursuing visual spectacle and ignoring the audience's feelings.

On the other side of the ocean, Chen Yuan, who was producing a promotional video for Night City to attract advertisers, also heard about this and felt both amused and exasperated.

Even if Chen's "The Promise" is released a year earlier, can it still not escape the fate of being compared to "Mantou"?
He also downloaded and watched Hu Ge's version of "Mantou". Well, although there are some differences in the details, it still has the same flavor. As expected of the master of meme, he is really good.

Although Chen Yuan was also happy to see those so-called big directors in China being deconstructed and entertained, and having their lofty and false aura stripped away by netizens, Old Chen had helped him when he was starting out, and there was also the connection of Chen Hong's sister.

If he were to kick someone when they're down at this point, it would be extremely inhumane.

Chen Yuan made a special phone call to Chen Hong's sister, asking her to persuade Old Chen not to get carried away. The best thing to do was to ignore the prank video and absolutely not to sue the video creator.

Chen Kaige was almost furious after watching "Mantou"!

His masterpiece has been treated this way, and the film's reputation has suffered a major blow. Is he just going to be a clown and let those online trolls mock him at will?

How could this be? How could this be!

Chen Yuan advised him to be patient, but if Chen Yuan could directly fight back against those who spread rumors and smeared him, couldn't he also use legal means to defend his legitimate rights?

Upon returning from Hong Kong for promotional activities, he was immediately surrounded by reporters at the airport exit. Those damned reporters even directly asked him what his opinion was on "Mantou" (a popular Chinese film).

Chen Kaige angrily berated the reporter holding the microphone, saying, "How can a person be so shameless? This problem must be resolved thoroughly!"

Chen Hong panicked immediately; Old Chen had lost his mind from anger!

Chen Yuan made it very clear to her over the phone that we are now in the internet age, and celebrities must take into account the impact of their words and actions on the internet.

She trusted Chen Yuan's judgment, who had experienced cyberbullying before, and explained the reasoning to him in detail. But why was he so arrogant?

Does Lao Chen think that he, like Chen Yuan, also has countless fans who will support him in fighting against illegal infringements?
Chen Yuan was subjected to such slander, but he only sued a few newspapers with egregious behavior. He didn't sue any of the netizens who spread rumors and defamed him, even those whose real identities could be found!

What else can you do besides vent your anger?

As news of Director Chen's impending lawsuit against Hu Ge spread rapidly, the popularity of "Mantou" reached a new level!
As Chen Yuan said, the situation became completely out of control, and when the storm came, all voices of peace and reason were drowned out.

Many netizens believe that Chen Kaige is a sore loser, petty, and uses his status as a famous director to bully an ordinary person.

Making a bad movie and then not letting people criticize it really shows a lack of self-awareness.

Even more resourceful netizens pointed out that after the "The Promise" film crew left, the picturesque Bigu Tianchi in Shangri-La was left with only architectural ruins.
Large amounts of waste from the film crew, including lunch boxes, wine bottles, plastic bags, and raincoats, were carelessly discarded around Tianchi Lake and in the lake itself, which locals described as "like being disfigured."

Photos of trees painted yellow in the Summer Palace were also posted online, and criticism of director Chen and the film "The Promise" quickly intensified.

Things became increasingly awkward.

"I told you not to say anything unnecessary. Those media outlets and netizens are very aggressive now. No matter what you say, it will be misinterpreted. They just won't listen!"

"Does that mean I can only let others insult me ​​and I can't even talk back?"

At home, Chen Kaige and Chen Hong started arguing over some trivial matters, and the argument grew louder and louder.

"Are you satisfied now? Chen Yuan was cyberbullied, and I kindly reminded you of the experience, but you didn't learn from it. You had to suffer through it yourself before you felt comfortable!"

Mentioning Chen Yuan made Chen Kai feel so frustrated that his chest felt like it was going to explode.

When "The Promise" was a huge box office hit in its early stages, he really thought he could compete with that extraordinary younger brother, but it turned out that the two films were simply incomparable.

After being subjected to cyberbullying following the release of "The Promise," Chen Yuan asked his wife to calm him down, but he couldn't hold back, and the cyberbullying intensified.

The film crew failed to clean up their trash and were labeled as environmental vandals; this was also brought up in the context.
Compare this to the footage of the entire crew cleaning up trash and replanting flowers, trees, and shrubs after filming Chen Yuan's "Legend of Seven Swords" was completed.

As a result, he was evaluated by the online mob and unscrupulous media in terms of his character, personality, and abilities, and they all said that he was far inferior to that little guy!
The string in his mind snapped instantly, and Director Chen, enraged, stood up and slapped Chen Hong hard across the face.

"Chen Yuan, Chen Yuan! Chen Yuan is so amazing, why don't you go and live with him!"

Chen Hong was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously covered her cheek where the burning sensation was slowly spreading. Then, her almond-shaped eyes, which were staring at Chen Kaige, gradually filled with tears.

"You said it yourself, I'm going to find Chen Yuan right now!"

As she turned around, tears welled up in her eyes. She went straight upstairs to pack her documents and luggage, grabbed a handbag and her coat, and left.

Chen Kaige simply sat on the sofa with his head down, not saying a word.

Chen Yuan is currently working on a one-minute-long promotional video for Night City titled "Good Morning, Night City."

Inspired by the promotional CG from the game "Project 2077", the film includes shots of buses and subways, bars and night markets, streets and alleys, modern skyscrapers, and more, showcasing all aspects of Night City to the audience.

Don't be fooled by its short runtime of just over a minute; it was quite a feat to make, as it's not purely CG, and some scenes and actors are real.

While he was busy, he received a phone call. Chen Hong's sister and Chen Lao Ge had a fight and had landed at Los Angeles International Airport.

Chen Yuan was startled and quickly handed over his work to his assistant while he drove to pick up his sister.

In the American night, the sister, exhausted from the journey, lay on him and shed many tears, along with other things. In the process of comforting the sister, Chen Yuan also understood the whole story.

It seems that Brother Chen has truly broken down, even losing the dignity of a cultured person by hitting his wife!

"I want a divorce."

Just as Chen Yuan was thinking about whether to stand up for his sister, he was so frightened by the fact that he was giving the magazine "Mantou" some exposure that he trembled.

"Sis, are you serious?"

Chen Hong glanced at the surprised Chen Yuan and snorted coldly with dissatisfaction:
"Look at you, so pathetic. Are you afraid I'll become your crony? Or do you feel less excited without the title of 'director's wife'?"

Chen Yuan quickly embraced the beautiful woman and repeatedly denied it:

"Sis, you're wronging an innocent person! I'm not the kind of thug with dyed yellow hair you're thinking of!"

(End of this chapter)